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If you love books, you've come to the right place. Here's where you'll find great books and more that our tomato reviewers have read and think other tomatoes will love too. Happy reading.
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Editor’s Note: Our book reviews can not be bought. We only review books that we and other tomatoes have read and think you’ll enjoy. And while this section may occasionally be sponsored by a publisher or author, it does not guarantee that the book will be reviewed here, unless it stands on its own merits.
Winter Beaching
Author Peggy Webb collides at break neck speed on page one with her reader and imposes an unspoken authorial mandate that you be as familiar with, and affable toward her characters; woman, beast and man, as she is. We meet the novel’s main character, Callie Valentine, and her dog, Elvis (the self proclaimed reincarnation of bi-pedal Elvis) en route to the Elvis Festival in Tupelo, Mississippi. Callie engages us with a conspiratorial tone from the start – that is, the start of the serial Elvis impersonator murders. Elvis, Callie’s devoted basset hound, has his own chapters, broken down into “Opinions” # 1 – 12 laced throughout the novel. Elvis is hilariously omniscient offering sage wisdom for Callie and her estranged, hot-as-a-pistol husband, Jack, while pining for forbidden treats along the murder trail. Lovie Valentine, Callie’s plus-size, over-sexed, foulmouthed cousin is her super sleuth counterpart. The two ladies are reluctant small town crime solvers, bumping into clues and drawing suspicion to themselves as various and sundry Elvis impersonators pop up dead. (Think Nancy Drew for grown-ups, only “blonder” and with an eye out for man candy.)
Webb has crafted a credible beach read albeit with some unfortunate and nearly unforgivable gaping plot holes and character inconsistencies: Turn off your plausibility meter before cracking the book. What the author does nail effortlessly (and redeemingly so) is a unique voice she brings to her cast of characters, the sexual tension she's able to establish, dissolve, then reestablish, and an unexpected additional sub theme, fashion - used throughout the novel in relative terms. Webb takes a best-friends-in-the-ladies- room approach to put her reader on the inside track with the novel’s people, places and plot driven events. And it’s this approach that ultimately gives the novel an undeniable charm. However, the harried narration, particularly before during and after major moments in the story, blows holes in the plot and takes a toll on the reader which may at some point (lets say, somewhere around page 50) beg the question; continue reading or save it for that Jitney ride out to the Hamptons?
There’s an unmistakable, unchallenged, exuberant atmosphere at the beach. So what if there’s a little sand stuck in your suit? Having donned your SPF and spent half a fortune on that new monokini (plus all the personal training to mono the hell out of that kini), life is good at the beach, and so is Elvis and the Grateful Dead…just don’t stay too long.
Betsy Cox is a freelance writer and editor. She is currently working on a collection of short stories and a non fiction book on urban homesteading. To contact Betsy, e-mail betsycox828@gmail.com
